Alexander Borodin: Biography - Classic Cat Alexander Borodin 12 nov 1833 (St. Petersburg) - 27 feb 1887 (St. Petersburg) Buy sheetmusic from Borodin at SheetMusicPlus Aleksandr Borodin 27 February 1887 (aged 53) Nationality [ O.S. 15 February] 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer and a successful chemist , of Georgian - Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five (or "The Mighty Handful"), who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music. [1] [2] [3] He is best known for his symphonies , his two string quartets , and his opera Prince Igor . Music from Prince Igor and his string quartets was later adapted for the musical Kismet .

Contents 6 Further reading Life and profession Borodin was born in Saint Petersburg , the illegitimate son of a Georgian noble, Luka Gedevanishvili ( Georgian : ლუკა სიმონის ძე გედევანიშვილი) and a Russian mother, the 25 year old Evdokia Konstantinovna Antonova (Евдокия Константиновна Антонова), who had him registered instead as the son of one of his serfs , Porfiry Borodin. As a boy he received a good education, including piano lessons. He eventually earned a doctorate in medicine at the Medico–Surgical Academy, the later home to Ivan Pavlov , and pursued a career in chemistry. He began taking lessons in composition from Mily Balakirev in 1862, while a professor of chemistry at the Academy of Medicine and married Ekaterina Protopopova, a pianist, the following year. [4] Music remained a secondary avocation for Borodin outside of main career as a chemist and physician.

He died suddenly during a ball from heart failure in 1887 and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery , in Saint Petersburg . Chemical career In his chemical profession Borodin gained great respect, being particularly noted for his work on aldehydes [5] . Between 1859 and 1862 Borodin held a postdoctorate in Heidelberg . He worked in the laboratory of Emil Erlenmeyer working on benzene derivatives. He also spent time in Pisa , working on organic halogens. One experiment published in 1862 described the first nucleophilic displacement of chlorine by fluorine in benzoyl chloride [6] . A related reaction known to the west as the Hunsdiecker reaction published in 1939 by the Hunsdieckers was promoted by the Soviet Union as the Borodin reaction. In 1862 he returned to the Medico–Surgical Academy. There he worked on the self-condensation of small aldehydes with publications in 1864 and 1869 and in this field he found himself competing with August Kekulé .

Borodin is also credited with the discovery of the Aldol reaction together with Charles-Adolphe Wurtz . In 1872 he announced to the Russian Chemical Society the discovery of a new by-product in aldehyde reactions with properties like that of an alcohol and he noted similarities with compounds already discussed in publications by Wurtz from the same year. He published his last full article in 1875 on reactions of amides and his last publication concerned a method for the identification of urea in animal urine. His son-in-law and successor was fellow chemist A. P. Dianin . Musical avocation Opera and orchestral works Borodin met Mily Balakirev in 1862. While under his tutelage in composition he began his Symphony No. 1 in E flat major; it was first performed in 1869, with Balakirev conducting . In that same year Borodin started on his Symphony No.

2 in B minor, which was not particularly successful at its premiere in 1877 under Eduard Nápravník , but with some minor re-orchestration received a successful performance in 1879 by the Free Music School under Rimsky-Korsakov's direction. In 1880 he composed the popular symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia . Two years later he began composing a third symphony, but left it unfinished at his death; two movements of it were later completed and orchestrated by Glazunov . In 1869, Borodin became distracted from initial work on the second symphony by preoccupation with the opera Prince Igor , which is seen by some to be his most significant work and one of the most important historical Russian operas. It contains the Polovtsian Dances , which are often performed as a stand-alone concert work as probably Borodin's best known composition. Borodin left the opera (and a few other works) incomplete at his death. Prince Igor was completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov.

Chamber music No other member of the Balakirev circle identified himself so openly with absolute music as Borodin did in his two string quartets. Himself a cellist , he was an enthusiastic chamber music player, an interest deepened during his chemical studies in Heidelberg between 1859 and 1861. This early period yielded, among other chamber works, a string sextet and a piano quintet. In thematic structure and instrumental texture he based his pieces on those of Felix Mendelssohn . [7] In 1875 he started on his First String Quartet, much to the displeasure of Mussorgsky and Vladimir Stasov . That Borodin did so in the company of The Five, which was hostile to chamber music, speaks to his independence. From the First Quartet on he displayed mastery in the form. His Second Quartet , in which his strong lyricism is represented in the popular " Nocturne " followed in 1881. The First Quartet is richest in changes of mood. The Second Quartet has a more uniform atmosphere and expression. [7] Musical legacy The bust of Borodin at his tomb in Tikhvin Cemetery .

(The visible musical notation on the tile monument in the background shows themes from (1) "Gliding Dance of the Maidens" from Polovetsian Dances ; (2) "Song of the Dark Forest"; and (3) the "Scherzo" theme from Symphony No. 3.) Main article: List of compositions by Alexander Borodin Borodin's fame outside the Russian Empire was made possible during his lifetime by Franz Liszt , who arranged a performance of the Symphony No. 1 in Germany in 1880, and by Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau in Belgium and France. His music is noted for its strong lyricism and rich harmonies. Along with some influences from Western composers, as a member of The Five his music exudes also an undeniably Russian flavor. His passionate music and unusual harmonies proved to have a lasting influence on the younger French composers Debussy and Ravel (in homage, the latter composed in 1913 a piano piece entitled "À la manière de Borodine").

The evocative characteristics of Borodin's music made possible the adaptation of his compositions in the 1953 musical Kismet , by Robert Wright and George Forrest , perhaps most notably in the song, " Stranger in Paradise ". In 1954, Borodin was posthumously awarded a Tony Award for this show. Subsequent references The Borodin Quartet was named in his honour. The chemist Alexander Shulgin uses the name "Alexander Borodin" as a fictional persona in the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL . References Alexander Borodin - Long Biography - Music Sales Classical Nationality: Russian Publisher: Novello & Co Born in Saint Petersburg on November 12th 1833, Alexander Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer, as well as being a doctor and chemist. He was a member of The Five, a group of Russian composers who worked dedicatedly towards creating a distinctly Russian style of art music. He enrolled in the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg in 1850 and after graduating he spent a year in a military hospital working as a surgeon. In 1862 he moved back to St.

Petersburg in order to start a career teaching chemistry at the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy and remained in this professorship for the rest of his career. Upon moving back to St. Petersburg, he also began composition lessons with Mily Balakirev, having met him that year. Whilst studying with him, he began to compose his somewhat prolific symphonic output. It is for his symphonies that he is best known today, along with his two string quartets, In the Steppes of Central Asia and his opera Prince Igor. Much later when Robert Wright and George Forrest were writing the US musical Kismet, they adapted music from Borodin’s string quartets and Prince Igor. He was also an important advocate of women’s rights to the extent that he developed medical courses for women whilst a professor at the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy and helped to found the School of Medicine for Women in St. Petersburg.

Close X Please fill in this form to receive regular news Orchestral Alexander Borodin | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by James Reel Though far from prolific as a composer -- by day he was a scientist noted for his research on aldehydes -- Alexander Borodin nevertheless earned a secure place in the history of Russian music. As a creative spirit, Borodin was the most accomplished of the Russian nationalists composers. He had a particular gift for the distinctive stripe of exoticism so evident in his most frequently performed work, the Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor. The illegitimate son of a Georgian prince and a doctor's wife, Borodin enjoyed a comfortable upbringing. As a child he learned to play several instruments and tried his hand at composing, but other aptitudes directed his formal education. He studied chemistry at St. Petersburg's Medico-Surgical Academy, obtaining his doctorate in 1858 and pursuing further studies in Europe until 1862. Upon his return to Russia, he became a professor at his alma mater; but even as an academic career apparently loomed before him, he maintained a devotion to music.

Under the influence of Mily Balakirev, whom he met in 1862, Borodin became interested in applying elements of Russian folk music to works for the concert hall and stage. He joined a circle of like-minded composers -- Balakirev , Rimsky-Korsakov , Mussorgsky , and Cui -- famously dubbed "The Five" or "The Mighty Handful." The influence of Balakirev in particular is at once in evident in the Symphony No. 1 in E flat major (1867). Borodin began the much craggier Symphony No. 2 in B minor in 1869, the same year he commenced labor on his most important work, the opulent four-act opera Prince Igor. While it took Borodin more than five years to complete the symphony, work on Prince Igor dragged on for decades. Borodin , who had in the meantime completed a number of other works, left the opera unfinished at the time of his death. It was completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov , a skillful craftsman and a particularly apt match for Borodin 's colorful musical character, and Alexander Glazunov .

Glazunov also completed the Symphony No. 3 in A minor, which the composer had been working on until the time of his death. Aside from teaching chemistry and conducting research, Borodin helped found a series of medical courses for women in 1872. Such activities, as well as the poor health that plagued him in the 1880s, drained the energy that he might have devoted to composition. Still, as a part-time composer, Borodin jeft a significant oeuvre: more than a dozen worthy songs, miscellaneous piano pieces, two string quartets (the second of which contains a ravishing Nocturne often performed in an arrangement for string orchestra), and the popular tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880). He died while attending a ball in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1887. Borodin, Alexander Porfir′yevich | San Francisco Classical Voice San Francisco Classical Voice Full-time chemist, part time genius composer. Vital Statistics Born: Oct. 31, 1833, St. Petersburg Died: Feb. 18, 1887, St.

Petersburg Nationality: Russian Genre: Romantic Performed as: Pianist, Cellist, Flutist (privately) During the composer's lifetime: The Russian Empire conquers most of Central Asia beginning with the southern Caucasus and Khazakhstan in the 1820s-40s, to “Russian Turkestan” (Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) in 1864-1885, and the northern Caucasus, by 1877. Competition with Great Britain for imperial influence in the territories of the Ottoman Empire (the so-called “Great Game”) leads to the Crimean War, 1853- 1856. Biographical Outline Bastard out of Petersburg: Born the illegitmate son of a Georgian prince, the boy is registered (as is the custom of the time), to Porfiry Ionovich Borodin, one of his father's serfs. Alexander lives with his natural father and mother in St. Petersburg until 1839, when the prince arranges a marriage for his mother to an elderly physician (in order to gain her an inheritance).

The doctor dies less than two years later and the prince in 1843. Before his death, the prince emancipates his son from serfdom. Youth, 1839-49: Borodin is home-schooled by his mother (Avdot′ya Konstantinovna Antonova). He can pick out tunes at the piano from an early age and his mother hires a flutist from the local regimental band to give her son lessons. In 1846, he takes piano lessons. Wanting to play chamber music, Borodin teaches himself the cello. His first compositions are published in 1849. Chemical attraction, 1850-58: Borodin enrolls in the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. But he is attracted to chemistry from the start. He graduates the physician program with distinction in 1856 and is posted as a junior officer to the Preobrazhenskiy Regiment, where Modest Musorgsky is the duty officer. The next summer, Borodin is sent on a four-month European tour by the Academy's chemistry department.

He decides to devote himself full-time to chemistry and, in 1858, he publishes his first scientific paper and defends his dissertation. Heidelberg idyll, 1859-61: The Academy sends Borodin to Heidelberg and he settles in to a chemistry lab there, but also attends a lot of concerts, plays chamber music, and composes on the side. In summer 1860 he makes sightseeing tours, staying in Paris from November 1860 to April 1861. Returning to Heidelberg in May, he meets a Russian pianist with tuberculosis, Yekaterina Sergeyevna Protopopova. They become engaged in August. Meeting Balakirev, 1862-69: After spending the winter in Italy, so that Yekaterina can recover her health, Borodin begins to teach at the Academy and marries Yekaterina. After the retirement of his mentor, Nikolai Zinin, in 1864, Borodin succeeds him in the chair of chemistry and is raised to full professor.

In October 1862, he meets the pianist and composer Mily Balakirev and joins his circle, which includes his old pal Musorgsky, Cesar Cui, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Balakirev starts him on a symphony, and conducts it at a Russian Musical Society concert in January, 1869. That year, he and Yekaterina adopt a seven-year-old girl. Composition or chemistry?, 1869-1873: Borodin enthusiastically begins work on Prince Igor, based on a scenario the librarian/ journalist Vladimir Stasov derived from a 12th-century epic poem. But, uncertain about his libretto and consumed by his work as a chemist, he sets it aside in 1870 and takes up work on his B Minor Symphony (1873). He finally leaves research, frustrated by the better equipped, better financed Western European labs. Prince Igor and other projects, 1874-79: Borodin returns to his opera in 1874-75 and 1878-79.

The premiere of the B Minor symphony in 1877, is a modest success, but Rimsky-Korsakov's concert of excerpts from Prince Igor and an edited version of the symphony establishes its reputation. During a brief trip to Germany, he meets Liszt, who encourages him. Running out of time, 1880-87: Borodin composes the tone poem In Central Asia in 1880 and finishes his Second String Quartet in D Major in 1881, but teaching duties prevent his completing anything else during his life. At a costume ball given by the Academy, he suffers heart failure and dies on the dance floor. Fun Facts Feminist: Borodin took a leading role in teaching advanced medicine to women students, after the government authorized them to receive degrees in obstetrics in the 1870s. In the reaction to the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, the government tried to rescind their policy, but Borodin worked intensely to prevent that. Name-dropping: Borodin's best friend in Heidelberg, and his companion on his sightseeing trips, was the chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev, who later invented the periodic table.

Linguist: Borodin was fluent in German, French, English, and Italian. Absent-minded professor: In 1876, when the Russian Musical Society planned the premiere of the B- Minor Symphony, Borodin discovered that he had misplaced the parts for two of the movements and had to re-orchestrate them, moving the premiere to 1877. The Mighty Five: The usual name given to the five composers in Mily Balakirev's circle (including Balakirev himself) is the Mighty Handful (Moguchaya Kuchka). The term was coined by Vladimir Stasov, who was the group's self-appointed polemicist and publicist. He believed in fostering a national Russian musical art, especially in opera, and his ideas on what that would entail influenced the group and Western European views of the Five. Stasov was involved in the birth of many of the composers' projects, including Prince Igor. However, Borodin, like Rimsky-Korsakov, went his own way, and often didn't conform to the group's pronouncements.

Helping hand: Liszt arranged the premiere of Borodin's First Symphony outside Russia (in Baden Baden), and he also encouraged a Belgian countess friend who admired Borodin. Her advocacy brought Borodin enough performances that he had to join the French copyright society to secure royalty payments. In gratitude for Liszt's interest, Borodin dedicated the tone poem In Central Asia to him. Posterity: Borodin has a quartet named after him; his music was also adapted for the 1954 orientalist-themed Broadway musical Kismet, which received the Tony Award that season. Recommended Biography There is no recent biography of Borodin in English. Explore the Music Borodin is best known for the lyrical themes in his most famous pieces, the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, the tone poem In Central Asia, the Nocturne from the String Quartet No. 2. But he also showed originality in his formal designs and orchestration, even in his first large-scale works, and he was well-trained in counterpoint. He was a complete composer and well aware of European musical currents and composers.

Getting away from it all: Unlike the other paid-up members of the Mighty Handful, Borodin was an avid chamber musician, who played for recreation whenever he could. Two of his best pieces are his string quartets. The C Minor Piano Quartet, written while Borodin was in Heidelberg, is another masterpiece. Symphonies: Most critics acknowledge the Symphony No. 2 in B Minor to be Borodin's greatest completed work. The earlier E-Flat Major Symphony is pretty good, too, which makes it all the sadder that the composer didn't live to finish his third symphony, or even write down the first movement, which he played at the piano for friends. Puzzle without pieces: Many unfinished operas are missing a couple of scenes or orchestration, but Borodin left Prince Igor in a much more complicated state. Working from a scenario (plan), he wrote the libretto as he worked on each scene instead of all at once. So when he died, he hadn't even left a complete libretto to the opera.

And, since he began in the middle and worked on the scenes that most inspired him first, there are continuity gaps in the story and we don't even find out what happened to two major characters. In 1885, Borodin asked Rimsky-Korsakov to help him organize his sketches for the opera. After the composer's death, Rimsky and his student, Alexander Glazunov took on the task of finishing it. Borodin had orchestrated about 10 numbers, including the famous Polovtsian Dances (which Rimsky had also helped with, because Borodin was chronically short of time). Rimsky orchestrated what remained in Acts I, II, and IV, while Glazunov composed most of Act III (over 1200 measures) and the overture. (The overture, though, was based on Borodin's ideas.) More controversially, the pair cut almost 1700 measures of music, mostly to improve continuity and coherence. Kiss me, I'm Polovtsian: “Polovtsy” is the Russian word for the Cuman people, who conquered and settled a wide area of central Asia extending all the way to the Black Sea.

They fought the “Rus” principalities, from which the modern state of Russia later claimed descent. The Polovtsian Dances in Prince Igor are an entertainment ordered by Khan Konchak for Igor, his prisoner and guest. Recommended Websites Aleksandr Borodin - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS Soundtrack | Composer | Music Department Aleksandr Borodin was born on November 12, 1833 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was in fact the illegitimate son of the Georgian Prince, Lukas Gedevanishvili, who registered his son under the name of his serf and payed for Borodin's private education in music, languages and sciences. Young Borodin grew up becoming fluent in German, French and English,...

See full bio » Born: Disney Collects Their Last 15 Years of Short films into One Blu-Ray 18 August 2015 8:58 AM, -08:00 | Cinelinx a list of 25 people created 14 May 2011 a list of 51 people created 28 Jun 2013 Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Aleksandr Borodin's work have you seen? User Polls 2016 Holidays (writer: "Borodin No.12 Polovtsian Dances and Chorus") 2013 Kick-Ass 2 (writer: "Polovtsian Dances From Prince Igor" - uncredited) - Bolchoï, une renaissance Gala de réouverture (2011) ... (as A. Borodine, "Danses polovtsiennes") The Simpsons (TV Series) (1 episode, 2007) (music - 2 episodes, 1993 - 2009) - Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou? (2009) ...

(music: "Stranger in Paradise" - uncredited) - Little Big Girl (2007) ... ("Gliding Dance of the Maidens (from Polovtsian Dances)", uncredited) - I Love Lisa (1993) ... (music: "Polovetsian Dances" - uncredited) 2009 BBC Proms (TV Series) (music - 1 episode) 2007 Sarah Vaughan: Live in '58 & '64 (Video) (music: "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" - uncredited) 2006 The Little Matchgirl (Short) (writer: "String Quartet #2 In D Major: 3rd Movement: Notturno (Andante)" - as Alexander Borodin) 2004 My Summer of Love (writer: "String Quartet No. 2 in D" - as Alexander Borodin) 2002 Manna from Heaven (writer: "Palovtsian Dances (no.

17)" - as Alexander Borodin) 2001 Heartbreakers (writer: "Sextet in D Minor - Andante" - as Alexander Borodin) 2000 The House of Mirth (writer: "String Quartet No. 2 in D" - as Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin) - Tales of Worm Paranoia (1997) ... (music: "Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor" - uncredited) 1997 Money Talks ("And This Is My Beloved") 1997 Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode) - The Leech Woman (1997) ... (writer: "Polovtsian Dance No. 2" - as Alexander Borodin, uncredited) 1996 The Leading Man (performer: "String Quartet No.2" - as Borodin) - Hard Times for Haggis (1994) ... (music: "Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor" - uncredited) - Son of Stimpy (1993) ...

(music: "Nocturne From String Quartet No. 2", "Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor" - uncredited) - Ren's Toothache/Big House Blues (1992) ...

(music: "Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor" - uncredited) 1993 Russische Nacht - Russian Night (TV Special documentary) (music: "Polovtsian Dances" - as Alexander Borodin) 1992 Ruby Cairo (writer: "Polovtsian Dances" - as Alexander Borodin) 1991 In the Shadow of the Stars (Documentary) ("Excerpt: Prince Igor") 1991 The Miracle (music: "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" - uncredited) 1988 The Perfect Match (as Alexander Borodin, "Polovestian Dances") 1988 Three Sisters (writer: "Quartett No 2" - as Alexander Borodin) 1987 The Living Daylights (music: "String Quartet #2 In D Major: 3rd Movement 'Notturno' Andante" - uncredited) 1985 Allegro ma non troppo (Documentary short) ("Obertura de El Principe Igor") 1984 Undercover (writer: "Polovtsian Dances") 1

980 Nijinsky (writer: "Prince Igor" - as Alexander Borodin) 1980 Vivir para amar ("In the Steppes of Central Asia") 1978 The Wild Geese (as A.

Borodin, "Rafer's theme") 1970 The Music Lovers (writer: "Polovtsian Dances" from "Prince Igor" - as Alexander Borodin) 1967 The Jerry Lewis Show (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode) - Episode #1.12 (1967) ... (writer: "Sands of Time" - as Alexander Borodin) 1967 Kismet (TV Movie) (music: "Rhymes Have I", "Fate", "Not Since Nineveh", "Baubles, Bangles and Beads", "Stranger in Paradise", "He's in Love!", "Gesticulate", "Night of My Nights", "Was I Wazir?", "And This Is My Beloved") 1961 Playboy's Penthouse (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode) - Episode #2.6 (1961) ...

(writer: "Baubles, Bangles and Beads") 1956 Fire Maidens of Outer Space (music: " (Polovtsian) Dances" - as Borodin) 1955 MGM Parade (TV Series) (music - 3 episodes) - Episode #1.15 (1955) ... (music: "Stranger in Paradise") - Episode #1.12 (1955) ...

(music: "Rahadlakum" - uncredited) 1955 Kismet (music: "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads", "Stranger in Paradise", "Bored", "Rhymes Have I", "Night Of My Nights", "Not Since Nineveh", "Sands Of Time", "The Olive Tree", "Fate", "And This Is My Beloved", "Gesticulate", "Rahadlakum" - uncredited) Alexander Borodin: A Life - Classic FM Classic FM Schedule Alexander Borodin: A Life “I’m a composer in search of oblivion; I’m always slightly ashamed to admit I compose.” So said one of the most brilliant Russian scientists of his generation, for whom composing was only a hobby. Welcome to the extraordinary world of genius melodist Alexander Borodin. The place is Baghdad. The year 1955. Howard Keel emerges stage right, legs akimbo, boldly intoning The Sands Of Time at the end of one of the best-sung musicals in Hollywood history: Kismet.

Under André Previn’s direction, MGM’s Studio Orchestra and co-stars Ann Blythe, Dolores Grey and Vic Damone held us spellbound with such unforgettable numbers as Strangers In Paradise, And This Is My Beloved and Night Of My Nights. Everyone’s wondering who wrote all those haunting melodies – Kern, Porter, Rodgers? Not a bit of it. When Kismet first went into production, its unwitting composer had been dead nearly 70 years. His name? Alexander Borodin. In a letter of 1877, the great Russian composer Tchaikovsky noted that “Borodin possesses talent, a very great talent, which, however, has come to nothing for want of instruction, and because blind fate has led him into the science laboratories.” And there you have it in a nutshell. Borodin was indeed one of the most naturally gifted of all Russian composers, yet his principal vocation as a brilliant research chemist and lecturer meant that he spent too little time composing. Had things turned out differently, there’s no telling what he might have achieved, but at least he left us a handful of masterpieces that provide tantalising glimpses of an adorable musical personality.

Borodin had a decidedly unconventional start in life. He was born the illegitimate son of one Prince Luka Spanovich Gedianov, an elderly nobleman who had enjoyed the intimate company of a beautiful and intelligent 24-year-old by the name of Avdotya Konstantinova Antonova. The unplanned result was a baby boy – Alexander Porforyevich – who, as was common practice at that time to save any public embarrassment, was entered in the registry under the name of one of the Prince’s serfs, Porfiry Borodin. Alexander was brought up and tutored by his devoted mother and female friends and relations. In this warm, feminine atmosphere the sensitive, intellectual side of the boy’s nature flourished unhindered. His teenage years were divided fairly equally between musical and scientific pursuits (he apparently loved to make fireworks), although it was the latter that eventually gained the upper hand. After enrolling at the Medico-Surgical Academy in 1850, Borodin devoted the next 10 years of his life to chemical research. Yet music was always hovering in the background.

Borodin had already struck up a lasting friendship with the young firebrand composer Modest Mussorgsky, and then in 1861 he met and fell in love with Ekaterina Protopopova, a brilliant 29-year-old piano virtuoso, who effectively turned his life around. The immediate result was the sublime and unaccountably neglected Piano Quintet, the first of Borodin’s works to fully proclaim his genius. Yet the event that was to prove axiomatic in turning him from an inspired musical dilettante into a blazing creative talent was his initial contact in 1862 with one of the founding fathers of modern Russian music: Mily Balakirev. It was Balakirev who would ultimately become the inspiration for the Kutchka or “Mighty Handful” – himself, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin and Cui, who famously dubbed them “The Five” in a French newspaper article. In the event Rimsky was the only one to develop into a full-blown professional.

As he so memorably put it: “Owing to deficiencies in technique, Balakirev writes little; Borodin, with difficulty; Cui, sloppily; Mussorgsky, messily and often nonsensically.” Yet despite their differences – there were times when they were barely on speaking terms with one another – Borodin was the caring one who invariably supported the others. This was particularly true in the case of Mussorgsky, whose life was one continual battle with alcoholism (Borodin last saw Mussorgsky the day before he died), and Balakirev, whose own struggles with alcohol were exacerbated by manic depression. (In 1873 Balakirev gave up music for five years to take a job at the Warsaw Railway, and then in 1887 retired into semi-seclusion as the result of a bout of religious mania.) Yet during his more lucid periods Balakirev had a profound impact on musical life in St Petersburg, including helping to set up the St Petersburg Free School for Music in 1862, the same year he visited the Caucasus with the aim of studying and notating the region’s folk music.

This trip would not only inspire a widespread taste for the musically exotic in Russia, its most immediate effect was to light the touchpaper of Borodin’s composing genius. Despite having next to no experience in handling large-scale forms, nor the slightest idea of how to orchestrate effectively, he set to work on a symphony that would turn out to be a cornerstone of the fast-emerging Nationalist school. It took him an astonishing five years to complete, but its heady combination of sensual melody and pulverising physicality proved well worth the wait. The First Symphony was a remarkable achievement for a part-timer, especially as Borodin was also making great strides in his chosen profession. He had returned to the Medico-Surgical Academy as Professor from 1864, while lecturing widely and translating papers, books and journals into Russian. In 1872 he helped set up the first medical courses for women in Russia (a cause very close to his heart). Aside from his scientific commitments, Borodin remained a devoted husband (barring one mild dalliance), and friend and supporter of colleagues.

Life at home was a struggle, however, coping with Ekaterina’s ailing relatives, her continual battles with asthma and unusual sleeping habits (4am to 2pm), and their newly adopted seven-year-old daughter, Genya. He later confided in a letter to his wife: “In trying to be a Glinka [composer], a Stupishin [civil servant], scientist, commissioner, artist, government official, philanthropist, father of other people’s children, doctor and invalid, I end up being the last in line.” It was the resulting strain that contributed to his premature death aged just 53. Meanwhile, Borodin continued to compose whenever time allowed, including a series of 16 exquisite songs that sit at the pinnacle of the Russian tradition, and the delightful Petite Suite for piano, seven salonesque miniatures that encapsulate Borodin’s mature melodic style to perfection. His next major work was the popular Second Symphony, which took an unbelievable seven years to complete. From the wild, frenetic outbursts of the opening movement to the skin-tingling sensuality of the Scherzo’s central trio section, this is Borodin in top gear.

Remarkably, with only a couple of major works behind him, word got out of Russia of his extraordinary talent, and no less a figure than Franz Liszt took the burgeoning composer under his wing, conducting his music whenever he had the opportunity. Riding on the crest of a wave of popular recognition, Borodin penned his sublime symphonic picture, In The Steppes Of Central Asia, which takes his unique Oriental style to unprecedented levels of poetic sensitivity. He also managed to complete two masterly string quartets, the second of which has more non-stop inspired melodies than any other work in the genre, and was later to furnish several themes for Kismet. But time was running out. For years Borodin had slaved away at his magnum opus, Prince Igor, an epic opera that includes the ever-popular Polovtsian Dances. Sadly, he wouldn’t live to complete it. There was also talk of a Third Symphony (two movements remain thanks to Glazunov – he’d memorised them from Borodin’s playing them to him at the piano), but the composer’s energies were ebbing away with each passing day, as he was now having to care for his terminally ill wife.

On the evening of February 27th 1887 Borodin attended a party, during which he was apparently in the highest of spirits, dancing and joking. Then, just after midnight, he collapsed from a massive coronary. It was all over in seconds. Just five months later, Ekaterina, bereft beyond consolation, also passed away. Borodin lies buried in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St Petersburg alongside some of his greatest admirers and friends: Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. Alexander Borodin | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links | AllMusic Alexander Borodin Biography by James Reel Borodin was a late Romantic Russian nationalist composer involved with the so-called "Mighty Handful" and who spent many years laboring on his compositions. Aleksandr Borodin Aleksandr Borodin Location of death: St. Petersburg, Russia Cause of death: Heart Failure Nationality: Russia Executive summary: Prince Igor Russian musical composer, natural son of a Russian prince, was born in St. Petersburg on the 12th of November 1833.

He was brought up to the medical profession, and in 1862 was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at the St. Petersburg Academy of Medicine. He wrote several works on chemistry, and took a leading part in advocating women's education, helping to found the school of medicine for women, and lecturing there from 1872 until his death. But he is best known as a musician. His interest in music was indeed stimulated from 1862 onwards by his friendship with Mily Balakirev , and from 1863 by his marriage with a lady who was an accomplished pianist; but in his earlier years he had been proficient both in playing the piano, violin, cello and other instruments, and also in composing; and during life he did his best to pursue his studies in both music and chemistry with equal enthusiasm. Like other Russian composers he owed much to the influence of Franz Liszt at Weimar.

His first symphony was written in 1862-67; his opera Prince Igor, begun in 1869, was left unfinished at his death, and was completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Aleksandr Glazunov (1889); his symphonic sketch, In the Steppes (1880) is, however, his best-known work. Borodin also wrote a second symphony (1871-77), part of a third (orchestrated after his death by Glazounov), and a few string quartets and some fine songs. His music is characteristically Russian, and of an advanced modern type. He died suddenly at St. Petersburg, on the 27th of February 1887.

Question: What nationality was composer Alexander Borodin?
Answer: RUSSIAN